CHAPTER XXI 
DEBUT AS A NATURALIST 
Audubon makes his bow at Philadelphia—Is greeted with plaudits and 
cold water—Friendship of Harlan, Sully, Bonaparte and Harris— 
Hostility of Ord, Lawson and other friends of Alexander Wilson—A 
meeting of academicians—Visit to “Mill Grove’—Exhibits drawings in 
New York and becomes a member of the Lyceum—At the Falls of 
Niagara—In a gale on Lake Erie—Episode at Meadville—Walk to 
Pittsburgh—Tour of Lakes Ontario and Champlain—Decides to take his 
drawings to Europe—Descends the Ohio in a skiff—Stranded at Cin- 
cinnati—Teaching at St. Francisville. 
In 1824 after five hard years of struggle and em- 
barrassment, Audubon decided that the time had come 
to bring his labors to the light of day. At thirty-nine, 
he read and spoke two languages but was without ade- 
quate training in either; he had never written a line for 
publication, and to the scientific world he was a stranger. 
Though without a definite plan, he cherished the ardent 
hope of presenting the birds of his beloved America as 
he had depicted them, to the size of life, and with all 
the added interest and zest that a natural environment 
could give them. 
To Philadelphia the naturalist now turned his steps, 
for that city was then a Mecca for scientific men. Leav- 
ing Shippingport in March, he reached the Quaker 
capital on the fifth day of April. There he purchased 
a new suit of clothes, and, dressed “with extreme neat- 
ness,” paid his respects to Dr. William Mease, the one 
friend there whom he had known intimately in his 
younger and more prosperous days. It was primarily 
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